Thursday, July 21, 2011

Who's got a beef with Postcrossing. This girl!

Disclaimer: I owe a lot to Postcrossing, if not for them I would have not discovered any of the other sites I use, I wouldn't have a blog and I would not have acquired some of my new pen-pals. I am just venting. If you share my viewpoint, great, if not then that's great too. I'm not going to up and quit nor do I suggest anyone else does that if they are enjoying the site!

About 10 days ago (don't quote me on this its just a generality) Postcrossing celebrated it's 6th Birthday. Six years of random people all over the world swapping postcards to complete strangers who share a love of mail, travel, culture, experience, and fun. In order to let the sites users participate in the anniversary celebrations, the creators and administrators allowed everyone registered (whether they were new, old, constantly or sporadically active) to request 6 extra postcards to send. This must have gone over big with users, as from personal experience (yes, I went and requested mine) what normally is a quick process to request an address was a time consuming event. Also, according to the officials over at Postcrossing, a whopping 88,316 postcards were shared (normally less than 14,000 are requested per day). You can see this information at Postcrossing's Facebook Page.

Now I bet you are thinking, "What's the problem, you got to send more than usual--isn't that a GOOD thing", and my argument to you would be no. While I got to send those cards out like many others, I now have to sit dormant for 2-3 weeks while the cards get processed through various mail services and make their destinations. Normally I have at least one postcard get registered every couple of days (yes, it varies) which then enables me to send another one to another random user. However, the administrators who allowed this project didn't build in that same fail safe-so now, regardless of the fact that I have had 5 postcards arrive with in that time frame I am unable to send anymore because the site thinks I am "at my current sending limit".  My limit had just increased the day before due to the number of cards sent that were registered, so with the 5 I had traveling, the extra 1 that I was allotted for my activity and the 6 "extra" celebratory cards allowed I had 12 postcards in circulation. Five have arrived meaning I have 7 in circulation. Therefore I am at a stalemate with the site until at least 2 more clear up, which as many users know can take anywhere from 3 days to 3 months (the cards I have traveling are all to foreign countries).

So I say to the administrators over at Postcrossing, that while I love your site, there was nothing extra or special actually given to your users. We were, at least to some degree,  given a postcard advance
similar to a credit card cash advance, whose interest we are paying in the form of time and not being able to participate.

Comments, questions, and counterpoints are welcome.


****Mail up-date to come this evening***

7 comments:

  1. I'm glad I missed out on that little bit of fun.

    Happy postcrossing! From another Postcrosser.

    Sharon

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  2. haha i have many things against postcossing... if i get another person who is super fussy (certain size look, feel and stamp needed) or even "happy postcrossing heres you post card" im going to scream! though i will say that its helped my project and not every ones like that! i did though miss out on the ectra 6... because it plain would not let me ask for another address....
    do you know if any thing is up with swapbot?? i can join as every single name in the whole world is already taken :S.. its getting a tad annoying as id really like to join!

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  3. Well let me just say you are both very lucky you missed out -- another one of my cards arrived today and I'm still stuck (but I did get one so I suppose I'll hush!)

    Sabrina, I feel your pain on those picky requests. I dont mind things like "I'd prefer a city view" but some of them get out of hand and then they get mad when you dont have the exact vintage card they want. I am just happy to get some fun mail!!

    I didnt have any issue registering with Swap-bot so I am not sure :/ ( I would like to think my blog has bought MASSIVE amounts of popularity hahahha). Have you tried adding numbers or special characters?

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  4. I thought I was signing on for the capability of upping my number of cards traveling by six. I feel duped and won't be rushing to repeat that blunder.

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  5. yeah i tried everything! i even put in my full name which is pretty obscure and then i did it with numbers... its kinda frustrating! im still awaiting approval for some sites as well! i gots some lovely stuff i want to share with people... and i cant wait haha!

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  6. Oh no! That is very strange that it wont allow you to register. Try e-mailing their tech people and telling them about your issue. it might be something as simple as a setting on your computer. I am still waiting for a few sites to approve me as well, so you are in good company!

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  7. i did thats the thing and they havent written back .. maybe ill just have to keep pestering!!! haha why on earth does it take so long to join these things! can be rather frustrating! heh may as well just keep at it!

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